DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 417
lawlessness, which unfortunately is invading the youth of this country. Are we here going to give this the imprimatur of our sanction ? That is the question I would ask my honourable friend very seriously to consider and answer, not in a spirit of banter or levity but with all the seriousness that a difficult social problem demands.
I feel that the basic conception of Hindu marriage has suffered the rudest possible shock by introduction into it of the matter of divorce which is so repugnant to Hindu notions of marriage. Hindu marriage as ought to be known to every one who professes himself to be a Hindu, who honestly takes pride in calling himself a Hindu, as I myself do, is a sacrament and not a civil contract and as such it will not be difficult for him to admit that divorce is absolutely foreign to its concept. Union by marriage, according to the Hindu Shastras is sacred and absolutely indissoluble ( Interruption ) . If you want me to cut short my speech you will kindly interrupt me only on important matters. I am not afraid of interruptions—I know how to answer them, I can answer them in my own way. But if you keep on interrupting me, my speech will be unduly long and you also may not feel happy over the replies I will give.
Babu Ramnarayan Singh : It ought to be so.
Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : The institution of divorce in this country, or in any country for the matter of that, has not been found to promote the well-being of the community for whose benefit it exists. As an humble student of sociology, I have had occasions to read reports of matrimonial courts. An honourable Member referred to Judge Lindsay and I believe he also had in view the “Revolt of the Youth”. I do not know whether my honourable friend realised that he unconsciously provided one of the stronger arguments for opposing this form of marriage when he referred to that great Judge. I want honourable members carefully to consider, if within the family circle we should permit matrimonial alliances to spring up between a person and his mother’s brother’s daughter or his father’s sister’s daughter, as has, been provided in this Hindu Code.
Shri H. V. Kamath : It is common.
Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : It may be common in South India, but South India is not the whole of India. My whole point is that if there is a particular form of practice in a particular part of the country, you should not go out of your way to see that it is provided for the whole country.